


Something Weird

by memitims



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Human Castiel, M/M, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-02
Updated: 2013-08-02
Packaged: 2017-12-22 03:45:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/908507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memitims/pseuds/memitims
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean meets Castiel at age 10, but the Winchesters always keep moving.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Weird

**Author's Note:**

> This is loosely based on canon from Sam & Dean's childhood, but Castiel is human and it strays off when they grow up.

When Dean is ten years old, something weird happens. Weirder than the ghosts he fights with his father, or the rock-salt guns hidden under the motel room beds, or even the Shtriga that almost infects Sammy. Dean makes a friend.

His name is Castiel and Dean meets him on a bench. This particular bench sits on the outskirts of a school playground, one that belongs to the elementary school that Sam and Dean are currently attending for a couple of weeks, or however long John wants to stay in this town. Dean rather likes this bench because it sits just far enough away from the playground so that he can watch Sammy swing around the monkey bars and barrel down the slide, while also looking around the whole area for any approaching danger.

This day, however, Dean’s bench is occupied by a boy with messy dark hair and bright sapphire eyes. Dean is one second away from turning away to find Sam and hauling him back to the motel, but he stares into the boy’s eyes for a beat too long and realizes that he was staring intently back at Dean, the brilliant pools of blue making Dean’s breath slightly catch in his throat.

Dean forces himself to break his gaze, shifting his eyes downwards to the glossy patch of orange fur in the boy’s lap. The cat lifts its head slowly and trains its eyes on Dean, like having one person staring at him wasn’t weird enough. Its fur is wild and fluffy, not unlike the unkempt dark locks of its owner. One of the boy’s hands strokes lazily over the cat’s head, but the other clutches tightly onto a small glass container filled with a dark red liquid oozing out of light-brown crust. If Dean isn’t mistaken, the boy is holding a slice of delicious cherry pie, and Dean is rarely mistaken when it comes to pie.

Intrigued, Dean slides into the bench next to him and offers up a small smile. The other boy still has those radiant blue eyes fixed on him and he smiles right back at Dean.

“Hello. My name is Castiel. What’s yours?” The boy’s voice is gravelly, and much deeper than Dean expected.

“I’m Dean. Is that pie?”

Castiel nods and his smile burns even brighter. “Yes, my older sister made it yesterday and she packed me some to eat after school. It’s cherry! Want some?”

Dean nods back and accepts the container from Castiel. The pie is delicious and Dean murmurs his thanks as he hands the remainder of the slice back. He watches Castiel finish the pie, always remembering to keep one eye on the playground and Sammy.

The boys sit silently, swinging their legs in unison over the fallen leaves that lay scattered underneath the bench. Dean points to Sam, currently laughing as he spins around in the tire swing, and breaks the silence by telling Castiel about his brother. Castiel listens intently, occasionally adding in his own tidbits about his siblings.

When it’s time for Sam and Dean to go home, Dean waves goodbye to Castiel and his rumpled cat, gathers his brother, and smiles all the way back to the motel.

*

They stay in this town longer than usual, for some unknown reason that John does not care to share with his sons.

Dean spends most of his afternoons after school with Castiel on the park bench, leaving Sam to his own devices. Castiel isn’t a big talker, but Dean is perfectly content with spewing off whole monologues and stories about his life, although many of the elements are heavily edited. He is also content with just sitting there silently, because Castiel smells good and his cat is friendly and when he does talk, his says the funniest things that leave Dean doubled over with laughter.

Sometimes Dean thought about how soft Castiel’s hair looked and then he had to yell at himself because he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about that, just like he wasn’t supposed to think about letting Sammy out of his sight, or living in an actual house, or how much he missed his mother because it made his chest ache.

Dean’s chest aches anyways because John is packing up the Impala and moving them to another town, which is inevitable, but sometimes Dean imagined staying here forever and visiting Castiel’s house and his brothers and sisters, and doing their homework together, and sharing a locker in middle school.

He says goodbye to Castiel and his cat. Dean gives Castiel a hug, which is weird, because Dean never hugs anyone except for Sammy. He tells Castiel not to change because he really likes his strange sense of humor, and the fact that Dean has to explain all his pop culture references, and the way he wears that one dark blue tie as much as possible, and the way he stares at Dean like he’s the only person in the world.  

*

Dean grows up and his little brother leaves for Stanford and his father disappears and Dean meets the only other best friend he’s had. It started off as a regular hunt, just some ghost that kept messing with the girl’s technology because she died by electric shock or something in the apartment building, but Charlie is smart and curious and Dean finds it very difficult to lie to her. She shows him the best burger place around and they bond over Dean’s secret geekiness and their mutual not-so-secret love of food.

Charlie makes him watch Harry Potter and cheers him up and sometimes keeps him company on hunts because Charlie is a badass and practically scared of nothing. She is always there when Dean needs to talk about the latest girl he screwed everything up with, and repays her by teaching her how to flirt, because he is freaking smooth.

Dean tells Charlie about Castiel and how it sometimes this wave of sadness will just wash over him when he realizes how much he misses his childhood friend. Charlie listens intently, and wiggles her eyebrows knowingly, but doesn’t say anything.

He travels around the country a lot, but tries to stay as close as he can to Michigan and Charlie so he can visit her as much as possible. Dean visits Sam frequently as well, but that usually leads to him missing his brother even more. He tries to be happy for Sammy, he really does, but sometimes he just gets so goddamn lonely.

*

Dean’s life changes when he’s twenty-two. Charlie knocks on his motel room door and pushes a tall, dark-haired guy out from behind her. Dean is speechless as he takes in the very backwards blue tie, rumpled trenchcoat, and piercing blue eyes, staring at him with the same level of intensity from when they first met twelve years ago.

“Cas?” Dean gasps in disbelief, and Castiel nods, his unkempt strands of hair bouncing around his head. Dean pulls him into a hug without hesitation, relishing in the warmth of his friend. He thinks Castiel smells like cherry pie.

Charlie coughs and makes her excuses, but not before throwing a wink in Dean’s direction. Dean glares with his mouth, but his eyes scream a relieved thank-you at her.

They untangle themselves and Dean starts talking and somehow, it isn’t awkward. They just continue where they left off, and Castiel is still quiet, and he still smells good, and Dean’s heart swells when he realizes that Cas didn’t really change at all. Dean wishes he could say the same for himself, but he’s become bitter and tired and lonely. It is a small victory, however, that the way Castiel makes Dean feel did not change at all, and Dean still really enjoys staring into those bright blue eyes.

He learns that Castiel goes to college with Charlie, and that’s how she found him, because honestly, there aren’t very many Castiels in the world. Especially not ones with deep voices who wear trenchcoats.

*

They are sitting in Castiel’s dorm room one day, Dean sprawled out on his bed and Cas tucked into the chair at his desk. Dean is helping Castiel study for his Mythology course, although he doesn’t tell Castiel why he knows so much about this subject. He tries not to think about Sammy used to have a penchant for finding the correct myth when they were working on cases together in high school.

Cas asks Dean to see the book about sirens he is currently reading, but Dean just laughs.

“You’ll have to get it from me.”

Castiel sighs and pushes out of his chair, reaching towards Dean and the book. Dean laughs again and leaps off the bed, quickly followed by Castiel. He uses his extra two inches to keep it out of reach, but Cas jumps and trips on the carpet of the dorm room floor. They both fall and land with their chests pressed together. Dean stares up into Castiel’s face and its close, closer than it’s ever been. His dark locks fall into his eyes, those eyes that stare right back down at him without ever wavering, eyes that seemed to stare at him from the minute they met and even follow Dean into his dreams.

Cas smiles and their noses brush and a pretty pink blush creeps onto Castiel’s cheeks, but then the door to the room is opening and Charlie is barging in, and then her own cheeks are turning pink as she watches Dean and Castiel scramble to stand up.

*

Castiel has never seen Star Wars and Charlie and Dean are horrified. They plop down on Charlie’s couch and start from the beginning. Charlie makes popcorn and they eat it out of a giant bowl that sits in Dean’s lap, because he’s in the middle. If Charlie notices Dean and Castiel’s frequent brushing of hands in the bowl, she thankfully doesn’t say anything.

They are halfway through _Return of the Jedi_ , when Dean feels a soft weight fall on his shoulder. Castiel is asleep with his hair splayed out wildly, tickling Dean’s neck. When the movie is finished, Charlie looks over and giggles. She leaves them on the couch and heads off to her bedroom, a sly look in her eye.

Dean’s eyes keep slowly sliding shut, but it’s really uncomfortable to hold himself up in the middle of the couch, his back ramrod straight with nothing to lean on and another body plastered up against his side. He slides an arm around Castiel’s shoulders and scoots towards the end of the couch, pulling the sleeping Cas with him. Dean sinks his head into the pillow Charlie left.

When Dean wakes in the morning, his chest is heavy. One of his arms is dangling off the couch and the other is still curled around Castiel’s shoulders. His friend’s slow breaths puff against his neck and their legs are tangled together at the other end of the couch. Dean doesn’t really mind.

Dean lies there for a while, his eyes half-closed. He brings the arm dangling off the couch into his face and squints at his watch. He reads the time and panics.

“Cas, Cas, wake up!”

Castiel mumbles sleepily into Dean’s neck but makes no move to get up. Dean shakes him gently and starts to pull himself up.

“Whuizzit Dean?”

“You’re going to miss your class if you don’t hurry up!”

This gets Castiel to open his eyes and he springs off the couch, followed quickly by Dean. His eyes widen comically at Dean and he swipes a hand through his hair to flatten his inevitable bedhead. Dean chuckles. Castiel’s efforts weren’t very successful, so Dean runs a hand through his friend’s hair himself, taming the dark strands.

Castiel straightens his tie and Dean helps smooth out his shirt and jacket. It doesn’t do much good, but it doesn’t really matter much.

“Thanks Dean,” breathes out Cas and he’s grabbing his phone and notes from Charlie’s table. Dean just grins at him and gives him a thumbs up and then Castiel is pushing Dean against the wall and kissing him breathless. Dean is surprised, but he can’t really think, and he kisses back and their teeth clink together softly because the kiss is messy and unpracticed and they are both smiling widely into the kiss. Dean doesn’t really care. He breaks away and pushes Cas out the door, but not before Castiel steals another quick kiss and stares up at him with those pretty sapphire eyes.

When Dean is twenty-three, something weird happens. He kisses his best friend and he doesn’t feel lonely anymore. 


End file.
